AMERICAN FALLS, ID — After Abi Hawker read a book about the five senses to a half-circle of enthralled 4-year-olds, she told the children in her afternoon toddler class that she had a surprise for them.
She drags a small popcorn maker onto the carpet and asks them to think. Which senses are activated when you pour the kernels into the popcorn maker? When the kernels heat up? When the popcorn begins to form? pop?
After a while, the corn kernels burst open, and the children cried out with joy.
The hawker explains what the children are seeing and asks questions that connect to the day’s lesson. After the activity, the class moves on to snack time to further stimulate her two senses: touch and taste.
A few years ago, nearly half of the children in Hawker’s classroom would not have had this experience. Their families do not have enough income to pay for early childhood education. Although they may have the means, some children come from families that until recently did not make early learning a priority.
But now, things are different in American Falls.
The one-stop-light farming community on the banks of the Snake River has seen significant improvements in family engagement, preschool access, and kindergarten readiness in recent years. This is the result of a grassroots effort to support children and families in an enclave of southeastern Idaho. .
This could not have come at a more critical time.as president joe biden Initiatives to expand childcare support As countries slump, states have been looked to as the next best thing to address a national crisis in early childhood education.Some, for example new mexico, minnesota and vermont state, has made significant investments. However, some have made it clear that they believe early care and education should be the responsibility of individuals, not governments.
In reliably conservative Idaho, lawmakers went a step further.Withholding statewide aid for early learners — Idaho is one of the few states It does not fund preschool – and rejected federal grants To improve early childhood education. Some have expressed outright hostility toward early learning, including one Republican who said he opposes any bill that would make it easier. “Like my mother coming out of the house.””
American Falls also tends to be conservative. But the town proudly embraces a goal that supporters describe as “progressive”: universal preschool. Residents rallied around a simple slogan: “Read, Talk, Play” and turned it into a movement.
Home country’s success is driven by broader influences experiment Spread across the state, communities are building their own early childhood education systems. These special projects, known as “collaborations,” bring together educators, school district leaders, and executives from nonprofits and businesses to identify and eliminate barriers to early childhood development. Here it’s known as early learning done the “Idaho way.”
“A bottom-up approach is essential for success,” said Beth Oppenheimer, executive director of the nonprofit Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children, which supports this collaborative model.
These community partnerships bring hope to local families. 25 Idaho Communities And counting what launched them. The goal is a successful voluntary effort to prove to state legislators that early learning programs are beneficial to all Idahoans and worthy of state funding.
“We’re building something that they can see and feel and touch and experience right in their backyard. We’re showing them that it works in the community,” Oppenheimer said. say. “So if you invest in early childhood, kindergarten will be better in the fall.” [readiness] Fee. There will be families who know where to put their resources. You will see your children grow up. ”
That’s what’s on display in American Falls, the center of Idaho’s early learning enterprise.
It started with Randy Jensen, who took over as superintendent of the American Falls School District in 2017. At the time, he says, kindergarten readiness rates were “absolutely horrible.” To turn things around, he encouraged his family to read to their children, talk to them, and play with them every day.
Six years and a community-wide campaign later, the concept has become widespread in a town of 4,500 people, where half of the residents identify as Hispanic. At the bank, the grocery store, and the mayor’s office, townspeople proudly wear their “Read, Talk, Play” shirts. This message, sometimes translated into Spanish as “leer, hablar, jugar,” can also be found on store window decals, pinned to office bulletin boards, and banners hung from telephone poles. .
“It’s just part of the culture here now,” says Tenille Cole, interim education director for United Way of Southeastern Idaho. This nonprofit organization supports early learning in American Falls financially and by hosting regular events where parents and children participate in learning activities together.
Preschool support started in 2019.
A few families in town could afford to pay out of pocket.Others who qualify receive free Head Start or Childcare subsidy.
However, the majority fell into the overlooked intermediate category.
“They can’t afford to go to kindergarten,” Jensen said, noting that his rural district has: highest poverty rate state. “They live a life that matches their paycheck.”
United Way has advanced its scholarship offering and currently supports approximately 40 percent of the children attending kindergarten in American Falls. Currently, she has five kindergarten programs, both private and public.
“But we didn’t just want to send kids to kindergarten,” Jensen added. “We wanted to send them to high-quality preschool.”
As the 3-year-olds in Honi Allen’s class took their seats and began their art activities, she noticed that several of them were clutching crayons and clenching their fists tightly, as if stirring a cauldron. She reminds me to “pinch, pinch, pinch” her cookware. They adjust the grip.
